Happily Ever After, Now and Then
by jackwabbit
Summary: Gen. Pre-ship if you lean that way, I suppose. Friendship. Leia focus (see notes at end). Time Frame: During ESB. Spoilers: General Star Wars knowledge only/none. Summary: There wasn't much downtime on Hoth. And, as a rule, it was too cold to do much of anything. But ice has its uses. Not many, but it does have them.


**Happily Ever After, Every Now and Then**

Fandom: Star Wars  
Rated: G  
Category: Gen. Pre-ship if you lean that way, I suppose. Friendship. Leia focus (see notes at end).  
Time Frame: During ESB.  
Spoilers: General Star Wars knowledge only/none.  
Word Count: 931  
Summary: There wasn't much downtime on Hoth. And, as a rule, it was too cold to do much of anything. But ice has its uses. Not many, but it does have them.  
Disclaimer: Anyone other than Lucas owning the holy trilogy is a good thing, but alas, it ain't me.

* * *

Leia had told him about it once, and he simply couldn't wrap his brain around it.

He'd dismissed her then, thinking she was pulling his leg or that it some strange Alderaanian custom that had disappeared with the planet.

But Leia wasn't the only Alderaanian on the base, and when it turned out that one of the lower ranks had the necessary equipment (she'd been off world on a holiday when it happened), he'd discovered that Leia's claims were true. People actually strapped blades of steel to their feet and glided on ice. For fun.

He still couldn't comprehend it, despite seeing that same recruit skating along in the open area in the hangar more than once. But when that soldier broke her leg while out on a scouting mission, he thought the matter closed – until one night, long past lights out, when he couldn't sleep. When he wandered out to the hangar for no particular reason except that he was stir crazy and sometimes he liked to fiddle with his ship when that happened.

That's when he saw her, on the borrowed skates of a wounded warrior, gliding through the quiet with grace and looking every bit the princess that she was.

He stood and stared. He couldn't help it.

The only sounds in the hanger were those of the blades on the ice and, eventually, her ragged breathing as she whirled around in a blur of motion – performing spins, jumps, stops and starts, and other things he had no words for but that he frankly couldn't believe were possible.

Her hair was down, for once, and when she jumped and spun, it flew out to the sides like a halo. He'd never seen anything so beautiful in his life.

He couldn't have told you how long she skated. He only knew that after a while, she slowed, and he realized his feet were freezing. He started to drift away, feeling a little ashamed for having intruded on what should have been a private moment.

But before he managed two steps, she suddenly pinned him with her gaze as she slowed to a stop. Her eyes were crystal clear as she stared him down.

"Leia, I…" he stammered.

She waved him off with a flick of a hand and stormed by him, walking remarkably well with those things on her feet.

He tried to follow her, but another hand in his face stopped him.

They never spoke of it.

But weeks later, a lumpy package appeared on his bed when he was out. It wasn't signed, but it didn't have to be. The contents and the note that merely stated _22:00_ were obvious enough.

He thought about ignoring the whole thing. It still seemed like insanity to him. Nothing he'd experienced so far in his life made this make any sense.

But he was nothing if not adventurous.

And Leia was, well, Leia.

So somehow he found himself in the back of an icy hangar in the middle of the night with the contraptions thrown over one shoulder.

Leia laughed at that.

"You have to put them on," she said, rolling her eyes.

He took a deep breath, sat down on the icy floor, removed his boots, and did as he was told while Leia glided away from him with the grace of her upbringing.

She circled back after a moment, though, and once she saw him, she burst out laughing as she slid to a stop in a small spray of ice.

"What's the matter?" she asked, smirking and crossing her arms in front of her chest.

He glared up at her.

"How do you get up with these things on?" he said, gesturing toward his feet.

"You get used to it," said Leia, offering him a hand.

He took it and slowly pulled himself upright.

He wasn't prepared for Leia to pull him out onto the icy area in one smooth move, though, and he skittered around for moment before falling on his backside.

The amused look Leia gave him was enough to have him scurrying back up in no time.

Again and again and again.

But after a lot of wobbles and wiggles and more bruises than he cared to count, he managed a few laps around the icy area.

The next week, he was better. And faster.

And eventually, he didn't fall anymore. He couldn't jump and twirl and spin like she could, but the bruises went away and he didn't get any more.

That's when he understood.

It was cold, yes. It made him hurt in places he didn't even know existed. And he never could catch her, no matter how hard he tried.

But when the wind was in his face; when she smiled more widely than he'd ever seen; when they actually laughed out loud; when there was no sound except for the scrape of their blades on the ice; when he didn't feel the cold because he was working so hard; when he managed that perfect stop; when both of them forgot their cares for just a little while; that was the clincher. The moment when they could ignore the war, and the supplies, and the personnel, and the ships – when they could just be two young people enjoying each other's company.

That's when he got it.

And that's when he realized he'd be forever grateful to the iceball of a planet that was Hoth.

Because while the ice took so much away, it had the decency to at least give them this.

And they were happy.

If only for a moment.

* * *

A/N: I realized as I wrote this that the male character here isn't clear, and that many would interpret it as a certain someone. Interpret it as you will. Just know that in my universe, Luke Skywalker can ice skate, and this is the story of a boy who grew up in a desert he hated amazed by ice and snow and recreation and beauty, as these are all new to him. It's the story of two young people forced by war to grow up fast, and how that process is incomplete. It's fleeting joy, opportunistically grabbed in the midst of horror.


End file.
